Chapter 49
Vincent happily led Catherine over to the table where four other teenagers were gathered. She could feel his pride at being able to introduce her to his friends. He kept his arm around her shoulders as he said, "Catherine, I'd like you to meet; Rebecca who helps to make all the candles that we use here. Olivia, who works with Mary doing all the sewing and knitting that gets done. Pascal works in the Pipe Chamber with his father; it's our communication system, and Winslow who is on our construction crew, carving out new chambers for our ever growing community."
Catherine had greeted the first three of his friends happily, almost as if they were old friends of hers instead. But when he came to Winslow, he felt a jump of pain along the Bond. At first he'd thought that maybe Winslow had squeezed her hand to tight, but then realized no one had been shaking hands. He looked down at her and when her face turned up to his it was full of sadness. "Catherine?" he questioned softly.
"Not here, Vincent, later," she whispered, then plastered a smile on her face as he finished the introductions.
"Everyone this is Catherine Chandler, she's a friend of our Helper Peter Alcott."
"Oh cool!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Do you know that Chandler means candle maker?"
Catherine laughed gaily and squeezed Vincent's hand as she took her seat next to him. "You know, I did know that, and funnily enough, the person that told me was also named Rebecca."
As she said that, Vincent knew that Catherine was referring to the very same Rebecca, only the one she was talking about was almost twenty years older.
While everyone was commenting on the coincidence, a large bearded man approached the table with a tray in his hands.
"Oh yum! Muffins!" Olivia enthused.
"Catherine, this is William, our cook."
"By the smell of those muffins, you have to be the best cook in the world!" Catherine endeared herself forever to William by her praise.
"In honor of our young guest, I made a small batch of very special muffins with the last of the chocolate chips I had. It seems there was just enough for six."
"That's great! There are six of us!" Winslow cheered.
Vincent leaned close to Catherine and whispered, "This is a big treat. We get chocolate so rarely here."
"And you love it so!" she grinned up at him.
For just a moment he was startled that she knew that, before he remembered that she must know everything about him. It was just a bit disconcerting, but warm and wonderful at the same time.
William passed each one of them a muffin and only Catherine didn't dive into hers immediately. Instead she looked eagerly at William's tray and asked, "Do you have an apple cinnamon one in there too?"
"I do, young lady, but they are rather large and I have only known Winslow and Vincent to be able to eat more than one at a time!"
"I am really hungry, William," she insisted, and then added sadly, "I missed dinner last night."
That was all it took for the gentle giant of a man. He made it his mission to make sure everyone was well fed and so Catherine received a second muffin without any hesitation.
"Vincent? Winslow?" William asked.
Both boys replied, "Oatmeal raisin please!"
They received their second muffin too, but rather than digging in, Vincent was watching Catherine with fascination. She carefully and precisely cut her apple muffin in half and then calmly without asking took the oatmeal one from his plate and did the same. A moment later both of them had half a muffin of each flavor on their plate.
"You've done this before," he stated assuredly in a voice low enough only she could hear.
She smiled serenely up at him and answered, "Every morning William makes muffins."
"And where did your chocolate chip one go?" he wanted to know since it wasn't anywhere in sight.
"I guess I'm not as hungry as I thought after all. I wrapped it in my napkin and will save it for later."
He knew she had lied again! Not about saving the muffin for later, but when she had told William how hungry she was! She was keeping the chocolate muffin for him! Because she did know how rarely they got that special treat Below and just how much he loved it! It was no wonder his older self had fallen in love with her if she was always doing generous things like that for him.
The six of them finished eating and the other four had to hurry off to their assigned work. Because Vincent had been instructed to watch over Catherine and keep her awake, he was excused.
To be continued….
